Herbert again involved in release of voter information – after
protecting his own

Once again, Utah Governor
Gary Herbert has demonstrated a callous disregard for the personal information
of others. This time just one person, gubernatorial candidate Jonathan
Johnson, is the victim rather than millions of Utah citizens as in past
cases.

Over the years, Herbert has
consistently failed to protect the personal information of millions of Utah
including tens of thousands of innocent Utah children who are the victims of job-related identity
theft (ongoing); the release of the 280,000 Social Security numbers and
other less sensitive personal identifying information of an additional 500,000
Utahns from state Medicaid and CHIP records (March 2012) and perhaps
most egregiously, Herbert and his administration refused to protect the voter
registration records of 1.5 million Utahn’s and allowed them to be posted on line in late 2013 – after removing his, his spouse’s, and his cronies’ records. Note:
Interestingly the records posted online in late 2013 show that Jonathan Johnson
registered as a Republican in 2000 and again in 2011.

So when the Herbert
campaign is accused of complicity in the release and
subsequent posting of Jonathan Johnson’s personal identifying information to
the internet, it is fully consistent with Herbert’s long history of total
disdain for the personal information of Utah citizens—except for himself, his
family and his cronies’.

Does a governor who shows
such disregard for the personal identifying information of Utah’s citizens
really deserve another four years in office?

How would you hold a
private business leader who consistently oversaw the release of your personal
identifying information accountable?

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Releases
of personal information under the Herbert administration since 2010 include the
following:

·
Continuously. The state of Utah sells the Utah Voter
Data base with the personal information of 1.5 million Utah voters to
anyone willing to pay $1,050. Information sold includes a registered voter’s
name, address, phone number, voter registration number, party affiliation,
voting history, etc. Financial institutions, health care providers,
insurance companies, political parties, candidates and other select groups or
their agents may obtain voter lists that contain all of the previous
information plus the registered voters’ full birth date (month/day/year).

·
July 2010. A list containing the
personal information of 1,300 people believed to be illegal aliens was released
by Utah Workforce Service employees. "Release of such private,
sensitive information is deplorable," Gov. Gary Herbert said in a
news release according to CNN.

·
March 30, 2012. An estimated 780,000
Utahns covered by Medicaid or thought to be eligible for Medicaid along with
those enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Plan had personal information
stolen by hackers in Eastern Europe who were able to access the Utah Department
of Technology Service's server. Information taken included names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security
numbers, etc. Herbert was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune as saying: "As
a state government we have failed to honor that commitment [to protect Utah
families and their personal data]," he said. "For
that, as your governor and as a Utahn, I am deeply sorry." In
spite of this, Herbert continued to support the sale of the voter data base,
minus his personal information, even though it had most of the same information
on it.

·
January 2013. The Utah Health Department revealed that a USB
memory stick with 6,000 Medicaid recipients’ protected health information (PHI)
was reported lost by a third party contractor.

·
December 6, 2013. Up to 97,000 Utahns
receiving training funds, unemployment insurance and payroll from Utah’s
Workforce Services may have had their personal information compromised due to a
data breach. The compromised data includes names, addresses, Social Security
numbers, UCard numbers, passwords, logins and security questions.